1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a Web service system, a server management apparatus, and a Web service providing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Service creation methods that bring a plurality of Web services into association with a service bus have been proposed. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-9218 discloses a service bus association method that can utilize a Web service on the adjacent service bus through registration of node identifiers and location information for service buses.
However, if the service bus association method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-9218 is applied to a Web service system including an image forming apparatus, a server that provides a Web service corresponding to processing requested from the image forming apparatus, and a server management apparatus that manages the server, the following problems may arise. Depending on the application of the service bus association method, it is difficult for the server management apparatus to select as Web service, which corresponds to the location of the image forming apparatus and the processing content requested by the image forming apparatus, among a plurality of Web services and to provide the selected Web service to the image forming apparatus.
For example, a description will be given of the aforementioned difficulty using an example as follows. Assume the case where as server management apparatus that operates on a cloud manages a virtual printer as a server and a virtual device installed on the server provides a Web service corresponding to processing requested from an image forming apparatus. The virtual device functions as a processing execution unit that executes processing corresponding to a Web service.
When the server management apparatus assigns an image forming apparatus that has requested print processing to a virtual device that executes print processing, the main body of a virtual printer on which the virtual device has been installed is not limited to be arranged at the same location as that of the image forming apparatus or the location adjacent thereto. For example, when the image forming apparatus is located in Japan and the main body of the virtual printer is located in U.S.A., a time lag in the communication between the image forming apparatus and the virtual printer may occur. Thus, it may take a long time until a service utilizing resources of the virtual printer is received by a user of the image forming apparatus.
Also, when the resources of the server (virtual printer) managed by the server management apparatus vary, a Web service corresponding to processing requested by the image forming apparatus may vary. In such a case, depending on the application of the service bus association method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-9218, it may be difficult to select a Web service corresponding to processing requested by the image forming apparatus.